Trudeau extinguishes another cabinet star By: Editorial Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/08/2020 (1592 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Now, the true cynic might argue, comes the real test.

If one were to cobble together a list of the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s substantial accomplishments since being elected in 2015, it would likely be relatively brief, would include nearly as many negatives as positives, and would undoubtedly be the subject of rancorous debate and disagreement.

But there could be no disputing that Mr. Trudeau has shown himself to be remarkably adept at one thing during his time as leader of Canada’s self-styled natural governing party: curtailing the careers of cabinet ministers who were once thought to be among his government’s brightest stars.

Lawyer and Indigenous activist Jody Wilson-Raybould was the embodiment of the Liberal Party’s diverse and inclusive future … until she wasn’t. Physician and academic Jane Philpott showed herself to be one of the strongest and most influential performers in the Trudeau cabinet … until she could no longer continue.

And now Bill Morneau, a successful businessman and the only finance minister the Trudeau government has known, has determined that the depth of a pandemic and associated financial crisis is the perfect time to walk away from politics and pursue the top job at the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The timing isn’t just questionable; it’s appalling. But Mr. Morneau’s exit became all but a foregone conclusion when his untidy ties to the WE Charity drew him inexorably into a scandal that was already nearing a full boil as a result of Mr. Trudeau’s familial entanglements with the charity and the prime minister’s failure to recuse himself from cabinet discussions that led to the awarding of a massive service-delivery contract to WE.

It’s part of the grand tradition of politics for cabinet ministers to resign when the scandals that envelop them threaten to harm the government. But such time-tested efforts at damage control are significantly less effective when the prime minister who accepts the resignation is more deeply embroiled in the scandal than the minister who’s shown the door.

Nevertheless, Mr. Morneau is gone. Another stellar front-bencher has fallen by the wayside, seemingly sacrified to the lamentably necessary effort to save Mr. Trudeau from his own arrogances and perceived entitlements.

And now, the job of steering the government’s overburdened financial ship through perilous pandemic waters falls to Chrystia Freeland, the deputy prime minister, foreign-affairs whisperer, trade-deal negotiator and doer of seemingly everything of consequence the Trudeau government needs done these days.

It’s part of the grand tradition of politics for cabinet ministers to resign when the scandals that envelop them threaten to harm the government. But such time-tested efforts at damage control are significantly less effective when the prime minister who accepts the resignation is more deeply embroiled in the scandal than the minister who’s shown the door.

To date, Ms. Freeland has shown herself to be an exceedingly competent politician. Her trajectory within the Trudeau government, particularly since the departure of Ms. Philpott in the wake of the SNC-Lavalin scandal, has been steadily upward until, with the possible exception of Mr. Morneau, she found herself positioned as the prime minister’s most trusted and reliable minister.

The task that awaits her is daunting. The WE Charity imbroglio shows no signs of abating, even as Mr. Trudeau outrageously seeks to stifle Commons committee investigations of the scandal by proroguing Parliament until autumn.

So now, as mentioned earlier, comes the real test — not for Ms. Freeland, who no doubt will do her level best to help the government survive the latest in its ongoing series of blunders and embarrassments. Rather, what will be tested by the unfolding of events is whether Mr. Trudeau’s ability to lay waste to cabinet careers is so complete that it can extinguish a star as formidable as Ms. Freeland.

That really would be something. But one would be ill-advised to bet against it.